


A memory Rewritten

by SneepSneep



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:46:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24561814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SneepSneep/pseuds/SneepSneep
Summary: Snape regretting his life decisions as he slowly bleeds out in the shrieking shack thinks about how life would be if he had made different choices.He find himself in disbelief when he wakes, being hanged by his ankle, in fifth year again.
Relationships: James Potter & Lily Evans Potter, Lily Evans Potter/Severus Snape, Remus Lupin/Severus Snape
Comments: 18
Kudos: 221





	1. Chapter 1

Severus flat bleeding in the shrieking shack, pondering his many failures as the life slowly drains from him. The blood now poured into the grooves of the wood, and his breathing now shaky. Could things have ever played out different if he hadn’t let life make him jaded? He thinks of the only friend he had ever known, lily. Even in her death he was likely not even a concern. He wondered if she thought of him at all after the incident in 5th year. He doubted his friendship impacted her as much as impacted him. After all, he dedicated his every action making it up so he wouldn’t feel the guilt after all the stupid mistakes he had made. He was a bad friend, bad teacher and bad headmaster.

The memory of lily was the only thing that ever brought him joy, even when he was looking into Potters eyes, he felt a sense of relief knowing he’d see her again. Even if there was no afterlife he still found comfort in the bright green eyes. Severus has long since lost his childhood innocence, even at the young age of 11 he hadn’t enjoyed much of life. What a waste. On his final shaky breaths in the clawed up floor of the shack, he closes his eyes thinking of a simpler time.

Snape opened his eyes with absolute shock to find he wasn’t bleeding out, and he wasn’t at all near the shrieking shack. He was confused and dazed, and looked around to see what was going on. There were students below him, laughing and smirking. He was floating? In a sudden realization he looked around. His eyes laid on no other than James potter and crew with Lily Evans desperately begging James to stop his tormenting.

Was this a dream? If it was a dream it was a damn good one. He hadn’t remembered such detail in a long time.

“Come on lily, why even hang out with this death eater freak?” James laughed, Snape found it strange, after all the hatred of James through the years, he found himself agreeing with him. It occurred to Snape in that moment that he was practically starkers in front of many people, and he should probably attempt to get down. He knew how this played out in his past, but maybe if he didn’t say anything it’d play out differently? He wasn’t even sure this was real to even warrant extreme caution.

Snape focused and used the nonverbal counter curse to let himself free from the levicorpus jinx, as his wand had fallen when he was flipped. He should have thought to use another nonverbal on the landing, as he fell harshly on the ground with thud.

“Hey what the hell? How’d he fall?” James gawked in confusion. Sirius didn’t wait for an invitation and sent out several stinging hexes Snapes way. He easily blocked the hexes and looked around for his wand. Snape smirked thinking about how juvenile this really was. Had they really just picked a fight over a girl? He also finally cast a look over to Lily, her green eyes approaching.

“Sev!” She knelt down and hugged Snape, he was a bit shocked at this, he felt the warmth of her body and her distinct gardenia perfume. He knew this couldn’t be a dream. Perhaps some sort of time bubble? Maybe a time turner?

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Lily asked.

Snape still seemed unable to find his words, so he just nodded and started to get up.

“Expelliarmus!” Sirius cast the spell and sent Snapes wand flying back in Sirius’ hand. Sirius with James trailing behind were now bounding toward them.

“You think your clever huh? Learned some wandless tricks from your deatheater buddies?” Sirius laughed.

“Accio wand.” Snapes wand flew back to him, he decided the best way to handle misbehaving children was to just not engage. He had learned this through many years of teaching and seeing defense against the dark arts teachers fail under the pressure. The best way to handle kids was to never get to their level and respond to taunts.

Snape took Lily’s hand and started walking off toward the castle.

“Oh no you don’t.” James quickly sent a show tying jinx, which both tied Lily’s and Snapes laces, making the both of then topple ungracefully to the dirt.

James horrified with himself, leaned over to offer lily a helping hand.

“I am so sorry Lily I didn’t mean to hit you with that- “YEAH YOU JUST MEANT TO HURT MY BEST FRIEND!” Lily smacked James’s hand away and untied their laces. “Piss off James! Or so help me I’ll make you regret it!” Lily barked.

James took a step back. “I’m..I’m sorry. I-“

“Save it. You’re a bully! I want nothing to do with you! Come on Sev!” Lily tugged Snape away with a crowd of on lookers laughing at the spectacle. Snape looked back to see James almost in tears. Huh. He never imagined James to be that upset over something like this. Lily’s deathgrip on his arm didn’t allow him to dawdle, and she pulled him back to the castle nearing the prefect bathrooms.

“Can you believe him! The nerve of that loathsome, evil git!” Lily fumed as she pulled Snape into the bathroom toward the mirrors. Snape still found himself amused by the little things, he noticed that the prefect bathrooms were how they used to be before they got re-decorated. Weird seeing them like this. He wondered what else had changed through the years without him ever noticing.

Lily was inspecting her uniform and her hands and face for scratches from the tumble from earlier.

“I’m bleeding. He made me bleed. I cannot believe he gets away with stuff like this! I am reporting him for this, and if he thinks he can get Remus to defend him, I’ll have physical proof!” Lily looked absolutely furious. Snape laughed, seeing her so worked up over something so small was funny in the scheme of things.

“Why are you laughing? You thought them bullying you was funny?!” Lily retorted, now inspecting snapes wounds.

“No… uh. I just… This is just very surreal.” Snape responded.

“Surreal? Are you feeling okay?” Lily gazed up into Snapes eyes. She looked worried now, noticing Severus’ spacy attitude.

“I think you might have a head injury, you’re acting bizarre.” Said lily, now dusting off the dirt on Snapes robes.

“No, I’m fine… Just getting used to how things used to be.” Snape responded calmly. The last thing he wanted was someone to strip him from this dream.

“What do you mean _how things used to be_?” lily eyed him suspiciously.

Snape panicked. It’d sound crazy if he explained everything that happened.

“Well I mean… You being my friend again…” He said quietly.

“Just because I’m friends with other people doesn’t mean I’m not friends with you.” Said lily. “besides you have friends too, _like Avery and Mulciber._ ”

“They’re not my friends, they just copy my homework and threaten me if I don’t give it to them.”

“So that’s your excuse for defending them before?” Lily retorted. He had forgotten of how much of the Slytherin politics he hid from lily. He decided he’d just be honest now.

“Lily… Being in Slytherin isn’t like Gryffindor. If I want to survive I can’t just cast them aside. If you think James is cruel, they can and will do worse things to me if I don’t at least, get them to avoid trouble.”

“ So you think it’s okay to just let them manipulate you like that? You’re just gonna let them win?” Lily was now completely in a fit, he’s mostly only seen Lily like this with Petunia.

“ It’s not about winning Lily, it’s about having peace for once. It’s difficult to be attacked around the clock. I need some time to feel…Safe.” Snape replied calmly.

He felt stupid talking like this. He felt weak for admitting to this, but he didn’t realize it till he had gotten older, how much of his existence was him just seeking peace. From the fighting and endless arguments at home, the bullying of the marauders and the threats from other Slytherins, finding comfort in silence was always the goal.

Lily paused. She looked over her friend. Their relationship had gotten strained through the years. Everyone in her house saw him as a greasy, no good, dark wizard. She saw him as a poor kid, who showed her what magic was. She examined his pale skin now scraped up with bruises from the fight with the marauders. His worn robes were now even more worn then she remembered. She wondered if he had any money for replacement robes, not likely. He hardly had money for toothpaste and shampoo. Maybe she was being too harsh on him. She never realized that it wasn’t just in class that he was picked on. Seemed like he didn’t even get the benefit of that at home.

“Why didn’t you tell me this? Why do you bottle this up? You used to tell me everything Sev…” Lily pressed.

“I never…. I never told you everything Lily. “

“Why not? You think I won’t understand?”

Snape sighed. He hadn’t told Lily much of his home life, because he already felt like so much of a charity case to Lily. He owed Lily everything and he didn’t want to burden her with his problems. He had far too many, and ones that she couldn’t fix.

“ It’s not that… I just don’t want you to deal with everything I have to deal with. You already defend me, that’s already a burden.”

“ Being a friend is about letting people in Sev. If you just let me understand, then maybe we can work on it together.”

Snape looked away from Lily. He knew that he really didn’t deserve anything she had to offer him. He was all the bad things James had claimed, and worse. He thought about how he had treated his students as an adult, how he pushed away helping Lupin, how he let so many die. He really didn’t deserve her pity. 

Lily gripped him into a hug. “Please talk to me, please.”

“ I don’t….I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”

“Just start from when we first met, what did you leave out in telling me back then.” Lily replied. She didn’t let go from her embrace. Snape felt uneasy. He wasn’t sure if he should tell her, but maybe he should, what’s the harm if things play out differently this time?

“when we were kids… I wore my moms clothes because my dad never bought me clothes… We don’t have money cause my dad doesn’t work much cause he’s an alcoholic and gets laid off a lot.” Snape started. Lily nodded to him continue.

“ My dad…He’d hit my and mom… A lot.” Snape felt himself struggle with the words. All of this was embarrassing him to admit. But it was what Lily wanted so he struggled through.

“When I missed meeting you some days, it was because the beatings were too bad and I had to wait to come see you again. I wasn’t allowed to let anyone know…Or he’d make it worse.”

“Oh sev.” Lily was now teary eyed.

“ My mom… He didn’t allow her to use magic at home. The only magic she was allowed to do was potions because we made a little money from selling them, and we could use them to heal after he…after he went off on us.” Thinking about this made Severus feel sick. He felt numb to home life, his dad was just a muggle, he should have been able to stop it.

“My mom, she’s ill. She can’t defend herself to him anymore, she has a low constitution…Magic ruined her life, so she feels a lot of shame using it herself. That’s why she never stops him.”

“Sometimes she gets excited by magic, like she’s remembering a better time, but it doesn’t last long. She mostly just wants me here to avoid my dad, but doesn’t care much about how things are going…Lily. I don’t think I want to talk about any more today…This is getting to be too much.” Snape admitted. He felt weak. Weak for letting his father beat his mother, weak for letting Lily hear this.

Lily finally broke her hug and looked up at Snape. Tears were streaming down her face, which she rubbed off with her hands.

“ You don’t have to say everything today. But thank you for telling me Sev. I’ve been so worried about you for so long, it’s nice to finally know…” Lily smiled back at him. He wanted to melt.

“Come on, lets go to madam Pomfrey, get these scraps taken care of, and I’ll write my report on James and Sirius.”

“ You can go, I’ll be fine, they’re just scratches.”

“ No Sev. I want to take care of you. Come on now.” Lily stood firm on the subject and pulled Snape along to the hospital wing

Snape sat on the hospital bed while Madam Pomfrey placed a bandage on a scrape on his cheek. He had a hard time not completely gawking when noticing how young Poppy looked. After having her be a coworker on staff and making potions for the hospital, they had gotten to know each other very well. He was used to her motherly personality and her insistence that he gain more weight. Seeing her now, younger with only a few streaks of grey hair, was strange.

“And I’d just need your signature on confirmation of the injuries before I report this to Mcgonagall.”

“Of course dear, I’d like to run a full physical on you both then you both may go.”

Snape groaned. Physicals were usually not long, but annoying with their results. He just didn’t want to be forced to drink vitamin potions or some other nasty potion Poppy insisted on.

Madam Pomfrey waved her wand from the top of Severus’ head to his feet and a piece of parchment and quill was summoned writing down the results of her diagnostic spell. Poppy grabbed the paper and started reading it over.

“ You’re underweight for a child your age.” Poppy noted. “And deficient in iron, calcium, vitamin C and E”

“Mmmhmm.” Snape responded, flipping through his potions book.

“ You’re anemic, and need to gain weight. We’ll have you on a few potions and regimens to fix the issue.” Poppy frowned. Snape groaned louder and shut his book and started to grab his things to leave. 

Poppy blocked his path so he couldn’t escape.

“I have control over your head of house, and if I feel it necessary I will use it. You WILL be doing my regimen, and that’s not optional.” Poppy asserted herself. Severus remembered being cornered like this as an adult, however he never needed to worry because he was staff and he could always leave without consequence.

“I have advanced classes I can’t hang around the hospital wing all day just cause I’m skinny.”

“ It won’t require you to be here if you cooperate with me. We’ll have the potions summoned to you when you eat breakfast and dinner. And for weight gain I’ll have a monitoring spell that just informs me of what your eating and how much, then once a week we can go over how you can make improvements.”

“ I’m not allowed to refuse this am I?” Snape sneered.

“No you are not, now hold still.” She placed the monitoring spell on him and then handed him 3 vials of various colored potions. He had brewed these many times. He knew that these were vile to drink, but effective, but only in the short term…Meaning he’d likely take them for a while before she was satisfied.

He choked down the potions and the vials vanished once empty. Lilys diagnostic apparently had nothing to report on and Madam Pomfrey let them go.

Lily stopped outside the hospital doors and turned to Snape.

“I’m going to go to Mcgonagall, you should get some rest, you look tired.” Lily remarked.

“Alright. See you soon.”

Snape walked off and headed toward the Slytherin common room, he then headed to his room but was stopped by a group of 5th and 6th students.

Avery, Mulciber, and Regulus were all sitting on the common room couches before approaching with questions.

“ We saw what happened with potter, how the hell did you do that?” Avery beamed.

“ What do you mean?” Snape was baffled, we was expecting an attack not a Spanish inquisition.

“ You cast nonverbal spells, and summoned you wand.” Regulus explained.

Snape had forgotten that he was in 5th year and that would make that advanced magic for his age. Although he was already fairly competent when he actually was 15.

“ I just have been practicing I guess.” Snape responded. He desperately wanted to get to his room, and wanted to avoid any attention.

Mulciber approached him and placed his hand on Snapes shoulder. “You have to show us how you did that. Deflecting without a wand. Wandless magic. All of that. Who taught you?”

“I just read about it.”

“ No one showed you? It wasn’t… You know.” Mulciber Grinned expectantly.

“ No.” Snape scowled. Of course, all these kids care about is finding out how to get to the Dark Lord…If only they knew what that would get them.

“ I told you guys he didn’t know him. Why would a muggle loving halfblood know the Dark Lord?” Mulciber laughed. The group of Slytherins laughed, except for Regulus, who looked fairly pensive. Snape was rather annoyed now, trying to humiliate him in front of everyone when only seconds before were asking him to teach him, how stupid were they?

“ I don’t need the Dark Lord to be powerful, and you’re pathetic wanting to join, it’ll be your death.” Snape sneered. He didn’t really care about impressing Voldemort, he had been down this path once, never again.

Mulciber turned back to Snape and drew his wand. Snape had his wand already drawn, ready.

“ You really think a pathetic sniveling wimp like you can even remotely hold up to the Dark Lords power? Wow poor and dumb!” Mulciber goaded.

“ His power is nothing, he’s just leading you to fight his battles for him. How powerful can he be when he makes his followers do everything for him.” Snape replied. The group of Slytherins were now all now drawing their wands as well. Snape cursed at himself for speaking up, but he knew he could handle all of them. He had been a deatheater, and a headmaster for crying out loud, he could handle school children.

“ How DARE YOU! MY FATHER HAS TAKEN THE MARK! You’re just going to call him a follower? Do you know what kind of honor and power he has gotten?” Mulciber never held his wand up to Snapes throat.

“Cruci-

Mulciber was cut off from the curse as Snape punched him flat in the jaw. The group of Slytherins now scrambled throwing hexes. Snape repelled the hexes and disarmed several of the students, throwing them backward.

Mulciber had gotten up from the punch and fumbled in his attack. Snape disarmed him as well, sending him bounding to the floor. Snape took Mulciber’s wand and snapped it in half in anger.

“If you want to march to your death, GO AHEAD! But don’t say I didn’t warn you all!” Snape yelled. He then stormed off to his room, using several protection spells to ward the door.


	2. Potions Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a difficult night, Snape shows up late to class and partnered with a werewolf

At some point Snape had finally fallen asleep, then woke in panicked confusion in the morning. The light was finally casting through the windows, which usually took longer so show light, given the underwater dorms. It must be late by now. He was amazed, yesterday was real, or at least kind of real. He still wasn’t sure of what he thought about this. He thought back to the war and the devastation. He was unsure if he should tell Dumbledore the whole truth on this. Dumbledore had been a manipulator for ‘the greater good’ for decades. Snape didn’t want to serve any master anymore, however he might need Dumbledore’s help.

After looking around the room he found his old trunk. He had forgotten how threadbare a lot of his robes were. Once he became a teacher he was able to have money to spare for nicer clothing, and able to replace it. He put on cleaner robes and got dressed. He cast a few cleansing spells on himself because the bathrooms were down the hall, and likely the entire dormitory was mad at him. He’d locked them out the whole night. He wondered why no one came in with Slughorn to take the wards off. No doubt they’d be planning something to get revenge. He sighed. He figured the best course of action was to start making a plan on the warfront. He knew where the horcruxes were, or at least where they should be. He wasn’t sure if they were all placed in their permanent homes yet, considering Regulus hadn’t fulfilled his part yet, so the others might be displaced as well. He found his old class schedule in his school bag. He apparently had Advanced potions and charms with gryphindor today. He decided he’d play off like a normal school boy before setting off horcrux hunting.

He disarmed the warding spells on the door and headed off. Surprisingly there was no one in the common room. Class must have already started.

He made his way to the potions dungeon and awkwardly waved hello to Slughorn. The class looked like they were just starting on acidic potions.

“Finally decided to roll out of bed today Mr.Snape?” Slughorn joked. The class laughed.

“ Sorry.” Snape apologized. He couldn’t think of a good enough excuse, or at least none that he’d believe.

“Just find a partner. Here, Mr. Lupin doesn’t have a partner either. And 10 points from Slytherin for lateness.”

Slughorn motioned to Lupin who apparently had been abandoned by his friend group. James was sitting next to Lily, and Peter with Sirius. He sat down next to Lupin and started prepping the ingredients. The potion they were brewing created silver fumes, he knew this was not a potion a werewolf should even consider being near.

“ Why aren’t you sitting with your friends?” Snape asked curiously. It wasn’t near full moon yet, so he couldn’t have been ill yet.

“ You didn’t show up so James forced himself next to Lily, and Sirius and I had a disagreement so I didn’t want to sit next to him.” Lupin explained. Snape was surprised at Lupins honesty. Usually the marauders never say anything to him that doesn’t have some kind of motive.

“Why were you late?” Lupin asked, whilst crushing fairy wings into a fine dust.

“I had a bit of crazy night” Snape muttered. He really didn’t think explaining would be a good idea, any rumor might get him into more trouble.

“ I heard you fought Mulciber.” Lupin looked up from his book and at Snape. “ So is that true?”

“ Who’d you hear that from?!” Snape snipped, trying to not raise his voice to loudly.

“Everyone at breakfast was talking about it. Regulus said you punched Mulciber and snapped his wand in half. Plus, half the Slytherins looked pretty pissed this morning. “

Snape groaned. Regulus that gossiping twit. He had a hard time being mad at Regulus for long. He was one of the only Slytherins who treated him with any kindness after all…But he had an annoying habit of being interested in things that really didn’t concern him.

“ I…Well yeah that stuff did happen.” Snape confessed, he was about to stir in the powered fairy wings, but reminded himself of Lupins…Condition.

“This makes silver fumes, you should stand back. Or at least cover yourself.” Snape warned. Remus looked back at him with panic.

“It shouldn’t hurt you unless your close to the cauldron, but you might feel nauseous being in here.” Snape explained.

Remus moved his seat, instead of being next to Snape he moved it behind him, using Snape like a human shield.

“Sorry. I didn’t know this made silver, otherwise I won’t have come to class today.” Remus whispered.

Remus being behind him made him uncomfortable, not only was his actions out of sight, it looked incredibly suspicious to anyone else in class. He knew out of all the marauders, Remus wasn’t the type to play pranks in potions. His potion abilities were already dreadful at best, if he attempted anything it might just be the death of him. Snape was finishing up the potion with Remus looking over his shoulder like a parrot. He felt Remus’ firm hands on his shoulder, and inhumanly warm body heat pressed behind him. Snape worked as fast as possible to just get this discomfort dealt with.

He took a vial and filled it with the potion, labeled it with both his and Remus’ names and vanished the rest of the potion.

“There it’s all finished, now you can chill out. It wouldn’t have killed you, you know.” Snape grumbled. Such a wimpy werewolf.

“ You don’t understand how bad my _allergy_ gets with silver. It’s unbearable.” Remus explained. He looked much calmer now, but still tense, likely because he had to partner with Snape of all people.

Snape looked around the classroom, most students weren’t even close to finishing their potions and Slughorn was franticly trying to prevent Peters and Sirius’ potions from overflowing from the cauldron. He guessed they both had about an hour till the class ended.

“ Sooo… “ Remus started.

“what do you want Lupin. I already did the work for you, you don’t need to hang around me.”

“ I just… I wanted to know why you were fighting with Mulciber.” Remus stammered.

Oh of course. He wanted to know the juicy gossip. Snape wondered if it were best to be honest and explain the deatheater dilemma to Lupin. If he wanted people to stop joining the Dark Lord then he probably should at least try to be civil with the marauders…But he doubted Lupin would believe him if he said he was trying to get people out joining, they already thought he was a deatheater.

“ You wouldn’t believe me if I explained it to you.” Snape grumbled.

“ You don’t know that. Just tell me. I promise I won’t use anything to hurt you.”

“ Mulciber cornered me with most the sylitherns in our year in the common room. He thought… He thought I knew Voldemort because I can do wandless magic. When I said I didn’t, and that I had no intention of becoming a deatheater, it got tense.” Snape explained.

“ So he wanted to be a deatheater then turned on you when he realized you weren’t one?” Remus asked.

“Basically. The other Slytherins don’t particularly like my blood status, for _obvious reasons_.”

Remus looked lost in thought. Snape stared at his younger appearance. He had forgotten that lupin had sandy blonde hair, when he got older the color was more ashy, and with streaks of grey. His face and arms had far less scars, the years of transformations without the other marauder’s must have taken a major toll on him. Even when Snape was in his last 30’s he hadn’t had grey hair, the stress of no job, or a safe way to transform must have really hurt him.

A pang of guilt hit Snape. He had gotten Lupin fired. He had made Lupin feel guilty over his lycanthropy every time he delivered the wolfsbane. He felt awful knowing that he prolonged someone’s pain, just because they were friends with Potter… He decided he would change that, this time.

“ Hey Lu-Remus.” Snape started.

“ Hmmm?”

“ I know we definitely not friends…But I have this- I’m working on this potion. It would help with your, uh, time of the month?” Said Snape. He had a hard time thinking of what you would call his transformation without being obvious.

Remus laughed. “ I’m not a woman Snape. We usually call it my ‘furry little problem’”

Snape blushed. He hadn’t realized how stupid he sounded till now.

“ What does this potion do exactly?” Remus asked.

“ I don’t know if I can explain it with everyone around, but I could make it for you. In simple terms, it would make it so you have the control, not uh, your furry friend.” Snape felt like he was going to die from embarrassment. He had never felt so ineloquent, especially with the baffled look on Lupins face.

“ How would I know you’re not just trying to poison me?” Remus eyed Snape suspiciously.

“ You wouldn’t. I don’t have it approved by anyone yet, it’s a new creation.” Snape retorted.

In the past Belby was the one to create Wolfsbane, however Snape felt very little guilt over taking credit for his creation, as he needed some way to gain leverage in the war. Perhaps he could use his knowledge about potions and spells in the future to boost himself as a teen potions genius? That’d really take Potter down a peg.

“ Then why would I trust you? “ Asked Lupin.

“ Well we can write a contract or make an unbreakable vow…” Snape responded.

Lupins eyes looked like they were going to fall out of his head.

“ You’d make an unbreakable vow over this? “ He questioned.

“ I am confident it works. I just need someone to test it so I can market it.”

“ I’d – I’d have to talk to James and Sirius about this.” Lupin tensed. A spark of hope in his eyes.

“ I’ll make a batch regardless, it takes a while to make, and isn’t cheap. “ Snape explained.

“ What are you calling the potion?”

“ Wolfsbane.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone,  
> I plan on posting every other day... I don't really write prose much, I usually make comics so I have no idea if I even know if I'm effective at this.


	3. Making a deal

By the time class ended and lunch began, the marauders all grouped and Lupin sent them running off together with determination. Lily and Snape both headed down to the great hall. Lily grabbed Snapes hand and tugged him as soon as they were away from anyone who was ear shot.

“ What the hell did you do yesterday?!” Lily snarled.

“ What uh…What do you mean?” Snape questioned.

“ Everyone, including the Slytherins want you dead, what did you do this time? “ Lily looked very angry, Snape took a deep breath and explained what happened in the common room.

“ So you broke his wand? You broke a death eaters son’s wand? I thought you were the smart one!” Lily huffed.

“ It’s not that big of a deal, he can buy a new one, his family is loaded.” Snape retorted.

“ That’s not the point… The point is, you making yourself a target to death eaters is really bad sev.” Lily now showed her concern. Her anger was always usually hidden worry. He almost wanted to laugh about how absurd this was. He could take on anyone in the school in a duel and win, no question.

“ Lily…I have goals, and I need to convince the others to not join the wrong side, and showing strength and abilities is what draws in the Slytherins in the first place. If I can show them that you don’t need _you know who_ to be powerful, then a lot won’t join.” Snape explained.

“ There can’t be that many who want to join, surely? I mean I know there’s some radicals who are downright dark wizards but-

“ Lily you practically accuse me of being a dark wizard all the time.” Snape snapped.

“ You use dark magic!” Lily grumbled.

Snape sighed. “ The magic isn’t light or dark Lily, it’s the user. A horrible spell can also be something that helps. It’s the person who makes their magic, just like how the wand choosing the wizard.”

“ It says in all the textbooks-

“All the textbooks have stuff wrong, how do you think I’m good at potions? By following the textbook? Seriously?” Snape was fervently annoyed at this point. Explaining the complexities of magic to a teenager wasn’t something he was good at, even when he was a teacher.

Lily looked dumbfounded.

Snape ignored her and headed to lunch. He felt starved. He grabbed a sandwich and sat alone at the Slytherins table. A group of chattering Slytherins were bickering nearby. He could tell it was obviously about him. To his surprise, a black haired figure sat himself across from him.

“ Better watch out Regulus, sit next to me and you’ll catch my social disease.” Snape smirked. Regulus was pretty popular for his age, and attractive and smart. Not especially wise considering who he was sitting next to.

“ I told everyone about what you did.”

“ Yeah I figured, you’re a chatty Kathy.” Snape grumbled.

“ You know they’re gonna try to get you for that, Mulc had to have a special trip to diagon alley. Once he’s back he’s gonna kick your ass.”

Snape smirked. “ I’d love to see him try.”

“ You’re really not scared?” Regulus took a sandwich for himself and started nibbling on it.

“ He can’t hurt me, I’m not dumb, I know what I did. And you of all people better heed my warning. I know they’re scouting you.” Snape threatened.

The playful expression vanished from Regulus’s eyes, then replaced with a somber stare.

“ How- How did you know that? Did anyone leak it to you?” Regulus panicked.

“ Uhhh… Not exactly… You wouldn’t believe me if I said how I knew.” Snape mumbled. He figured he should come up with some kind of excuse for his newfound know-how.

“ It was Avery wasn’t it! That dog faced-

“ It wasn’t Avery. It was a vision.” Snape lied. He guessed getting visions of the future couldn’t have been more crazy than the truth.

“ A vision… You’re fucking with me.” Regulus snorted. “ I didn’t think you had ‘the gift’”

“ I didn’t either, but if you join, you’ll drown to death by inferi so your best not.”

Regulus laughed. “ You haven’t been talking to Xenophilius, have you? “

“ I haven’t talked to the wack job, I saw you die you moron. I honestly don’t care if you die but I’m not having it on my conscience. So if you’ve already decided to have that mark burned into you, then be my guest.” Snape Retorted.

Regulus looked around quickly then shushed at Snape with quick motions.

“ Be more quiet about this, will you? You want to get me in trouble?”

Snape just stared back unfazed.

“ So these visions… What all happened in them?” Regulus asked.

“ You’re gonna tell the whole school if I tell you?” Snape asked.

“Maybe. Depends.”

Snape rolled his eyes.

“ The visions showed me how the war ends, how some people die, stuff about ‘you know who’ and bunch else. All of it has been true thus far, so I’m not questioning it anymore.” Snape explained.

“ So how does the war end?”

“ You know who dies, and blood purity is garbage. Your brother wasn’t as stupid as you, which is hilarious in its own right.”

“ _How though_? How does he die? He’s immortal, that’s what he says. He’s had loads of people try to take him down, _How?”_ Regulus pressed.

“ Why would I explain his weaknesses to deatheater who’s just going to strengthen his defenses? “ Snape rebutted. He knew giving away too many specifics wasn’t a good idea. He just needed to get Regulus to spread news about who wins the war, which was easy enough, after all it was juicy gossip if Snape sounded crazy.

“ I knew you were making shit up! Can’t even give me details.”

“ Oh I can give some details…Hmm let’s see… You have a house elf named Kreacher, you’re insane mother tortured Sirius with the cruciatus and when Sirius left despite that, you felt guilty having to be the only heir. Your other psycho relative Bellatrix is already a deatheater, and is trying to convince tour parents into being a murderer like she is.” Snape smirked.

Regulus stilled. Snape stared back at him.

“How do I know you didn’t just ask Sirius about this?” Regulus eyed him suspiciously.

“ Does Sirius look like my friend? Also I didn’t realize he knew all about your parents social circles anymore. Whatever. You don’t have to believe me.”

Regulus grabbed Snapes arm.

“ If you know all this…Then what happens to everyone? Is that why you want to stop everything? Do we all die?”

“ Not everyone dies… But most do or live very bad lives.” Snape replied.

Regulus looked down like he was debating with himself on something. Snape had no idea if he could change his mind on joining, young and easily manipulated kids were Voldemorts specialty.

“ So in these visions… If you saw them, then you’re obviously changing what happened right? I joined in those visions…So what would happen if I didn’t? How do you know that it’s better with this reality?”

Snape was impressed with Regulus’s quickness in understanding.

“ I don’t really know. I know that if I do this though, it likely won’t be as bad, and that the war can end much faster with what I know. I already have some plans in place, I just need to get some connections to make it happen.”

Regulus seemed fairly reassured with Snapes responses. He got up and packed his bag to leave.

“ Listen…I don’t know if I’m fully convinced…But I’ll consider what you’ve said.” Said Regulus. He left Snape alone to his own table.

Just as he felt like he could enjoy his silence, the marauders came running his direction.

“ Oh Merlin, what now?” Snape grumbled. He took out his hand and held it in place, readying himself for confrontation.

“ Put that away Snivellus. Moony explained your offer.” James sneered. They huddled around the bench. The rat pack, still with the rat bastard in tow.

“ And?” Snape glowered.

“ We want to accept your offer, under some provisions.”

Snape rolled his eyes. “Yes I figured as much…What are your terms?”

“ We want to see the potion ingredients and instructions, before you brew it. We want to watch you brew it, and we want you to take the vow and also drink it too.“ Potter replied.

Snape considered the terms. A lot more time he’d rather not spend with the marauders, and them seeing the instructions might take away from his plans on selling. Potters parents being famous potioneers was fairly suspicious. But he could always choose other potions if they take this one. And when it’s proven to work, it’d show his good faith.

“ Alright. Let me write it out then.” Snape pulled out empty parchment and a quill and started writing it down.

The marauders all looked at various levels of confusion.

“ We won’t have you using Remus as a test subject you know.” James threatened.

“ If I wanted a lab rat, I’d use Peter, now shut up while I’m writing.”

James sputtered about in disbelief. “what uh, what do you mean?”

“ Oh cool it. I already know your animagi. I’m not doing anything about it, obviously.” Snape sneered. He just finished the ingredients list and started the instructions.

All the marauders looked dumbfounded.

Sirius slammed his hands on the table.

“listen you slimey fuck, if you do anything, I swear to god-

“ If I wanted to do anything I would’ve already done it. Putting you in prison over that wouldn’t do anything productive.”

“ So this is how your threatening us, I knew it! I knew it! I told you moony!” Sirius huffed.

“ Shut up Sirius! He said he wouldn’t do anything. You’ll ruin the deal.” James hushed.

“ You don’t know he wont later on!” Sirius retorted.

“ If it’ll shut you up, we can add it to the vow, I already told you I wouldn’t.” Snape grumbled. He was still far from done in writing the instructions. He wanted to write descriptions of the colors, texture and fumes in case they took this and tried to brew it themselves. He didn’t want to kill them all because they were too stupid to stir properly.

“ Why are you fucking helping us?” Sirius snapped.

“ Because I want to, I don’t owe you an explanation.” Snape mumbled.

“ Does this have to do with what you and Mulciber were fighting about yesterday?” Lupin asked. Instead of hovering, he took a seat and started eating lunch. The other marauders looked skeptically, then did the same, still on edge.

“ It’s related, yes.”

“ How is helping me got anything to do with stopping the Slytherins from joining the deatheaters?” Lupin asked earnestly.

“ What? Joining deatheaters? That’s what it was about?” Sirius looked panicked.

Snape nodded.

“ They were threatening people to join, and it got on my nerves.” Snape replied.

“ Is Reggie-

“ He hasn’t joined yet. Don’t know if he will or won’t, he wouldn’t give me a definite answer.” Snape responded. He was finishing up the instructions, finally looking up to face them all.

“ So you’re trying to stop them? Why I thought you loved the blood purity junk.” Sirius smirked.

“ I’m a half-blood whose best friend is muggleborn, and my mom got disowned by pure blood relatives. Does that sound like someone who believes in that stuff ?”

“ I don’t buy it, there’s some kind of agenda here.” Sirius eyed him suspiciously.

“ I do have an agenda actually.”

“ Fucking told you James.” Sirius smirked.

“ I want you all to help me, prevent people from joining the deatheaters.” Snape retorted.

“ And why would we do that, and what do you think we could do? They won’t listen to blood traitors and you know it!” Sirius fumed.

“ You can help by not hexing random people in the hallways. And by backing up my claims.” Snape tensed.

“ What claims. I’m not just gonna agree with you with no reason.”

“ I’ll prove everything I say, you just have to back me up. They won’t listen to just one person, they need a bunch of people for re-assurance.” Snape explained. He handed the potions list and instructions to James.

James looked at the list and instructions carefully. He wasn’t aware of anything that was poisonous in this list, however the brewing looked very complex. It wasn’t something most could accomplish unless they had a mastery.

“ I think we should make the vow now, so you don’t back out.” Said James.

“ Alright, but not here in the open. The girls bathroom, with the dead girl. It’s always empty.”

“ Go in there a lot don’t you Snape?” Sirius smirked.

“ Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.” Snape groaned.


End file.
